Fluoxetine

[saltnvinegarlover]

Hi am looking for a bit of help, due to various life events and being peri menopausal I suffer with crippling anxiety.
I was on 30mg mirtazapine which helped with the anxiety wasn't brilliant but still helped but I was gaining a huge amount of weight so I spoke to the dr and we are trying 20mg fluoxetine which I started last Sunday (I am also on HRT patches).

Since starting them my anxiety is off the roof and I feel worse than ever ☹️is this a case of preserving and it will get better? Cause if that's the case I am willing to keep going , my side effects are pretty rubbish as well.

Has anyone got any experience?thanks

Fluoxetine ultimately saved me from a complete breakdown BUT the first month on it was hell on earth. It increased my already savage anxiety and I even felt suicidal at times. Its early side effects can be worse than the 'normal' anxiety. You must bear this in mind as much as you can as you ride it out.
As I said, it has worked miracles - I'm fine now. But the start was very rough.

I'm also menopausal and on hrt.

Thanks for your reply Phyllis321, I am determined to hang in there and hopefully both the side effects and anxiety will settle down

I'm on my second month now and I'm definitely feeling better than I did.. I'm also on HRT (Femoston). I didn't have side effects but I did feel more anxious. Now I'm feeling like I can tackle life a bit better and face the demons that have been crippling me for far too long. Stick with it if can!

I'm prescribed this but haven't started it. Why does it have to make things worse first... I can't deal with that

@saltnvinegarlover How are you getting on now?
@HeadPain Don’t be afraid to start taking it - those early side effects can be very short lived. I felt weird for about a week, but not dreadfully so. I remember feeling an odd combination of tired and jumpy. I could literally feel it taking effect after I’d taken a pill. I also had a dry mouth and a bit of indigestion. What has always helped me is taking it not in the morning, but last thing at night. It has changed my life - turns out I’m not really a bad tempered, irritable person after all! It also has the lovely side effect of cooling down hot flushes.

Hi just thought I would come back with an update.

So have been on Fluoxetine now for a month and the first couple of weeks were awful 😞 feeling nauseous, loss of appetite, heightened anxiety and sleep going haywire (this was especially hard due to previously being on mirtazapine) and was really ready to through in the towel.

But I persevered and gradually things got better most side effects have now settled down. My anxiety rather than being constantly on high alert is now a kind of dull roar not perfect but a lot better. Still a few dodgy moments which I am hoping will ease with time and let me live a life not under constant anxiety 😥

If you have been prescribed it hang in there it gets better.

That's great news, I'm in month 3 now and definitely feel like it's helping.